Monday, 20 February 2012

Introducing .. Your UKIP Candidate

Michale O'Donoghue - Candidate on 1st March

As promised last week, three of the four candidates in the Shamblehurst Ward by-election on March 1st have agreed to speak to the voters through the pages of Hedge End Blogger. They have all been asked the same four fairly simple questions and have been invited to make a short statement. I'd like to thank them all for taking the time to do this and having the imagination to realise that the internet is a valid vehicle for electioneering.

Michale O'Donoghue is standing for UKIP and has provided the following statement:

My name is Michale O’Donoghue and I am standing for the Parish Council By Election for the Shamblehurst Ward of Hedge End on 1st March 2012 on behalf of the U.K.Independence Party. I have lived in Hedge End for just over 20 years and currently run my own office stationery supplies business providing office products to businesses, schools, colleges, and health centres.

The reason for standing is threefold.

Firstly – over the past few years – the residents of Hedge End have rarely had a choice at local elections where parties other than the Liberal Democrats fail to field any candidates. The result is that the Liberal Democrats are returned unopposed – no election is held – and that cannot be good for democracy. Indeed – the Parish election of 2011 for the Shamblehurst Ward never happened as there were 3 candidates for 3 vacancies – all Liberal Democrats. It is therefore encouraging to see on this occasion a 4 way battle demonstrating renewed interest in local politics.

Secondly – I was always taught that whilst it is easy to be critical – it is better to be proactive by becoming involved. Hedge End has developed massively in the time I have lived here and the Council by virtue of being almost a single party Council would benefit from new ideas from alternative viewpoints. To the Council I would bring experience of business management from my current role - providing a reasoned argument for or against vanity proposals.

Thirdly – it is more important that we all recognize that Europe as a political basket case is intruding more and more into all our lives – making judgements by unelected commissioners enforceable despite the wishes of our own democratically elected politicians. We see at a national level high risk foreigners being unable to be deported because of “Human Rights”. These people have to be housed somewhere – and Hedge End is a possible somewhere. We see our money being used to support Foreign Aid in countries with a greater wealth than ours – whilst our own people are struggling with high living costs. As a member of UKIP – I am a traditional old school Tory. Trade with Europe Yes – Be controlled politically by Europe – No.

I hope the Shamblehurst Electorate will allow me the opportunity of representing them on Hedge End Council – and will be pleased to answer any questions by Phone to 07760 778130 or email to Michale@tonercam.co.uk

Hmm. I've read your piece - all very good but why are you standing with a UKIP label and not as an independant? A vote for UKIP nationally is a vote for the Europhile LibDems. What bit about being a UKIP candidate is relevant in this election? Will you be campaigning to take Hedge End out of Europe?

Thank you Anonymous for your comment - I think when it comes to local elections - everyone who stands is effectively independant insofar as National Party Policies are generally irrelevant. The point of standing under a party banner is to draw on the support of similar minded people who may be happy to help with electioneering, leafletting etc. All young parties I guess have to start somewhere - a vote for Labour in the early 20th century was also seen as a wasted vote - but they went on to form many governments. Asking whether I will campaign to take Hedge End out of Europe is like asking the Conservative candidate if he supports building a high speed rail link between Hedge End and Botley, or asking the Lib Dem candidate if he supports building a wind farm on Greta Park!! Michale O'Donoghue

Do we agree that the Euro currency is now generally accepted to be a political project, a step towards the United States of Europe, rather than created for sound economic reasons? Listen carefully to TV and radio documentaries on the subject, and you'll hear some of key players openly admitting that now.

What bothers me is that if we roll back 15 years or so, to the time when the Euro project was being discussed, the politicians and bureaucrats would vehemently deny that it was a political project, denying that they wanted to create a United States of Europe. A single currency makes sound economic sense in a single market they said, that will benefit business and boost prosperity in the member states. We now know that the politicians of that era couldn't have been more wrong. They were telling porkies.

I see the same thing happening locally. Eastleigh Borough Council are telling us that it is right to build thousands of new homes in Hedge End. Hedge End Town Council (with the commendable exception of Cllr Day) are compliant with the plans for Hedge End, plans that are dumped upon us by the Borough Council. My bet is that in 25 years time, the people taking those decisions today will probably be admitting in their memoirs that it was a big mistake...

So that's why we need people who are not obliged to argue the party line, people who do not have to defend the indefensible, elected to local and national Government.

We need people who are prepared to probe/challenge and raise the counter argument, instead of blindly following orders from above.

Whilst out canvassing recently a very delightful but wise lady informed me that in elections for local Town/Parish positions you should vote for the person and not the Party. I felt it was worthy of a mention.

I have stumbled across this blog through the 'Next Blog' button on blogger, and am ashamed to admit that I've never heard of Hedge End until just now. Whilst I agree with many of the points made by Ray Turner about the European project, I think it is a bit naive to expect any cohesive policy with regard to such a big issue to come about via independents at national level.

There are some very competent and active local independent councillors in my local town council, but the borough council and county council are of course dominated by the mainstream parties. Until UKIP is able to be seen as a cohesive potential party of government (i.e. not a one issue party) then I'm afraid the main three parties will continue to be (at a charitable best) disingenuous about the European project.

Good luck with your blog and your elections! I am, by the way, a Kentish Man.